COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Statistics and trends in trafficking in human beings in the European Union in 2021-2022 Accompanying the document Report from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on the progress made in the European Union in combating trafficking in human beings (Fifth Report)
Date: 2025-01-20
Institutions: Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs, European Commission
Subjects: EU Member State, data collection, data transmission, fight against crime, help for victims, human rights, organised crime, prostitution, slavery, trafficking in human beings

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 20.1.2025  SWD(2025) 4 final  COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Statistics and trends in trafficking in human beings in the European Union in 2021-2022 Accompanying the document Report from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions  on the progress made in the European Union in combating trafficking in human beings (Fifth Report) {COM(2025) 8 final}  
 
 
0.1.  Total number of victims: current situation and trends1 

The data used in this document was gathered by EUROSTAT from all the Member States via 
the national statistical authorities. The analysis is based on data provided by EUROSTAT and 
will primarily focus on the period 2021-20222.  

The total  number of victims registered in  the EU27  increased by 20.5% between 2019-2020 
(14 311) and 2021-2022 (17 248). Concerning the registering period, the total annual number 
of registered victims showed an increase from 7 155 in 2021 to 10 093 in 2022, with an average 
of 23 registered victims in  the  EU  per  million  inhabitants  in  2022. The  actual  number  of 
victims is likely significantly higher than reported data suggests, as these statistics only capture 
victims  that  become  known  to  one  of  the  registering  entities  and many  victims  remain 
undetected. 

In 2021-2022, most victims were registered in France (3 838), in Italy (2 903) in Germany (2 
472) in the Netherlands (1 605) and in Romania (1 005).  

Figure 1: Victims of trafficking in human beings by registering organisation 

Source: Eurostat (crim_thb_sex) 

If one  considers the number of victims proportionate to  the population  size, rather than the 
absolute number of victims, in 2021-2022 the most victims were registered in Luxembourg (99 
permillion inhabitants), Austria (47), Estonia and the Netherlands (46 both). 

1 Note: The figures have been adjusted to reflect only the known values in the dataset, excluding estimates or 
unknowns. This adjustment ensures the accuracy and reliability of the data presented. Any discrepancies between 
previous reports and the current figures are due to this refinement process. 
2 More  information on the data collection and coverage  is provided in Eurostat metadata:  Crime and criminal 
justice (crim) (europa.eu) 

1 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Figure 2: Victims of trafficking in human beings per million inhabitants of the registering 
country 

Source: Eurostat (crim_thb_sex) 

1. 

Trends in the forms of exploitation 

1.     Overview of trends 
The  main  forms  of  exploitation  in  the  EU  are  sexual  exploitation  and  labour  exploitation. 
During  the  reporting  period,  sexual  exploitation  made  up  49%  of  the  share  of  trafficking 
victims, followed by labour exploitation (37%). In the previous reporting period (2019-2020), 
sexual  exploitation  made  up  over  half  (51%)  of  the  trafficking  victims,  while  labour 
exploitation made up 28%. The share of sexual exploitation decreased while the share of labour 
exploitation increased between the two reporting periods.  

2 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Figure 3: Victims of trafficking by aggregated form of exploitation 

Source: Eurostat (crim_thb_vexp) 

2. 

Sexual exploitation 

The number of victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation in the EU overall increased from 
sexual 
2021 
exploitation were primarily female, of which 68% women and 24% girls. In 2019-2020, 68% 
of victims of sexual exploitation were women and 18% were girls.  

the victims of 

2021-2022, 

014)3. 

2022 

811) 

(4 

(3 

In 

to 

In 2021-2022, in all Member States female victims accounted for the majority of victims of 
sexual exploitation, except in Austria. The Member States registering the highest numbers of 
adult female victims of sexual exploitation were France (1 356), Germany (782), Italy (744), 
and the Netherlands (595). 

In  2021-2022,  children  accounted  for  27%  of  victims  of  trafficking  for  sexual  exploitation, 
compared to 21% in 2019-2020. Concerning the registering period, in 2022, children accounted 
for  22%  of  victims  of  trafficking  for  sexual  exploitation,  while  in  2021  it  was  33%.  The 
Member States registering the highest number of child female victims of trafficking for sexual 
exploitation in 2021-2022 were France (593), Romania (370), Germany (331) and Italy (167). 

3 The breakdown by form of exploitation was not available for Finland for the whole period 2019-2022 and for 
Sweden for 2019-2021. 

3 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Figure 4: Victims of trafficking of sexual exploitation as at least one form by sex and age 
(%) 

            Source: Eurostat (crim_thb_sex) 

3.    Labour exploitation 

The number of victims suggests that there is an increase in victims of labour exploitation of 
51% between 2019-2020 (3940) and 2021-2022 (5 940). Over the reporting period, the number 
of labour exploitation victims in the EU was 1 950 in 2021 and 3 990 in 2022. In line with the 
preceding sections, in 2021-2022, trafficking for labour exploitation or forced labour still is the 
second main form of exploitation in the EU (37%), although its share increased by 5% since 
2019-2020. Labour exploitation includes domestic work, care activities or cleaning services. 
The  Member  States  registering  the  highest  numbers  of  victims  of  trafficking  for  labour 
exploitation are France (1 299), Germany (1 047), the Netherlands (674) and Italy (666). The 
most represented EU citizenships among registered victims in 2021-2022 were France (488), 
Romania (419), Bulgaria (175) and Hungary (173). 

In 2021-2022, the victims of trafficking for labour exploitation were mainly male (70%), while 
females amounted to 30%. In 2019-2020, the victims of trafficking for labour exploitation were 
66% male and 34% female. The share of children victims of trafficking for labour exploitation 
increased from 4% in 2019-2020 to 7% in 2021-2022. 

Figure 5: Victims of trafficking of labour exploitation as at least one form by sex and age 
(%) 

Source: Eurostat 

4 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
4.  Other forms of exploitation 

Forms of exploitation falling under the ‘other’ umbrella term include criminal activities (14% 
of victims of other forms of exploitation during 2021-2022), forced criminality (3%), forced 
begging (2%), benefit fraud (1%), and removal or organs (0%). Forms of exploitation marked 
as ‘other’ (i.e., not indicating any of the aforementioned forms) account for 50% of victims of 
other forms of exploitation during 2021-2022. In 2021-2022, the victims of trafficking for other 
forms of exploitation were mainly women (49%), while males amounted to 32% and children 
19%. 

Figure 6: Victims of trafficking of other forms of exploitation  

Source: Eurostat 

Figure 7: Victims of other forms of exploitation as at least one form by sex and age 

Source: Eurostat 

2.    Trends in the types of people who are trafficked 

1.    Victims by age – child victims of trafficking in human beings 
In  2021-2022, child  victims  constituted  almost  one-fifth  of  all  registered  victims  in  the  EU 
(19%) where the victim’s age group was known, demonstrating a decrease since 2019-2020 

5 

 
 
 
 
 
 
     
 
 
 
 
 
(22%). Member States with the highest numbers of registered child victims in 2021-2022 where 
the age group was known were France (982), Romania (516), Germany (463) and Italy (334).  

Figure 8: Victims of trafficking by age 

Source: Eurostat 

2.    Victims by sex 
In 2021-2022, 65% of all the victims in the EU were female (women and girls), ranging from 
24% in Belgium to 98% in Slovenia. This percentage remained quite steady since 2019-2020 
(66%)4. 

The  Member  States  with the  highest percentage of  male  (men  and  boys)  victims  during  the 
registering period were Belgium (76%), Portugal (73%), and Latvia (64%). The Member States 
with the highest percentage of female victims were Slovenia (98%), Czechia (96%), and Malta 
(88%).  

The Member States registering the most female victims were  France (2  677), Italy (1 763), 
Germany (1 460), and the Netherlands (1 010). The Member States registering the most male 
victims were France (1 161), Italy (1 062), Germany (985), and the Netherlands (577). 

4 The breakdown of victims by sex was not available for Poland for the whole period 2019-2022. 

6 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Figure 9: Victims of trafficking by sex 

3.    Victims by citizenship 

Source: Eurostat (crim_thb_sex) 

In 2021-2022, 46% of the registered victims with known citizenship were EU citizens (7 607) 
and 54% were third country nationals (8 782)5. The majority of registered victims with known 
citizenship was therefore from third country nationals, demonstrating a shift compared to 2019-
2020 when the majority of registered victims was EU citizens (55% EU citizens and 45% third 
country nationals). 

In 2021 alone, 59% of the registered victims with known citizenship were EU citizens (4 112), 
and 41% were third country nationals (2 817). In 2022, 37% (3 495) of the registered victims 
with known citizenship were EU citizens and 63% (5 965) were non-EU citizens. The number 
of non-EU registered victims increased by almost 112% between 2021 and 2022. 

5 The breakdown of victims by citizenship was not available for Sweden for the whole period. 

7 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Figure 10: Victims of trafficking by citizenship 

Source: Eurostat (crim_thb_vctz) 

Most represented citizenships of EU victims in 2021-2022 were Romanian (1 971), French (1 
783),  Hungarian  (585),  Bulgarian  (514)  and  German  (510).  However,  if  one  considers  the 
number  of  victims  proportionate  to  the  population  size,  rather  than  the  absolute  number  of 
victims, Romanian (49 per million inhabitants), Bulgarian (40), Hungarian (31), Slovakian (28) 
and Latvian (23) are the most represented EU citizenships in 2022. 

The main countries of citizenship of non-EU victims in the EU in 2021-2022 were Nigerian (1 
596), Ukrainian (503), Moroccan (485), Chinese (381), and Colombian (350). 

8 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Figure 11: Number of victims per citizenship of EU27 and top non-EU victims and sex 

   Source: Eurostat 

Across the EU in 2021-2022, approximately 34% of all registered victims were citizens of the 
country in which they were registered, compared to 39% in 2019-2020.  

The  countries  with  the  highest  rates  of  registering  their  own  citizens  were  Bulgaria  and 
Romania (both 100%), Hungary (97%), Slovakia (95%) and Lavia (93%). 

5.  Trends in criminal justice system indicators related to trafficking offences 

In addition to statistics on victims and types of exploitation, Eurostat collects data on different 
aspects relating to suspected individuals, prosecuted individuals, convicted individuals, final 
decisions of prosecutions and Court judgements. 

1.    Individuals suspected for trafficking offences 
The total number of individuals suspected of THB crimes (both EU and non-EU citizenships) 
increased  by  16%  between  2019-2020  (15  214)  and  2021-2022  (17  711)6.  EU  citizens 
accounted for 72% (5 392) of all suspects in 2022. 

Member States with the highest number of nationals among those suspected of THB crimes 
were Romania (3,266), Italy (3,175), and France (2,794) in 2021-2022. 

The  most  frequent  non-EU  nationalities  among  suspects  were  China  (586),  Nigeria  (545), 
Pakistan (256), and Albania (252). 

6 The number of suspects was not available for Estonia for the whole period, for Romania for 2019 and 2020, for 
Ireland and the Netherlands for 2020 and for Belgium for 2021. 

9 

 
 
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Figure 12: Number of suspects per citizenship of EU27 and top non-EU suspects 

Source: Eurostat 

Where information on the sex is recorded, 78% of individuals suspected of THB crimes were 
male (13,664) in 2021-2022. Men accounted for the majority of individuals suspected of THB 
crimes in all Member States in 2021-2022. In Spain, the proportion of women among suspects 
was 48%, while it was 41% in Slovakia. 

Figure 13: Number of suspects of trafficking in human being offences by sex 

Source: Eurostat (crim_thb_sex) 

With respect to various aggregated types of exploitation, in 2021-2022 individuals were most 
frequently suspected in relation to sexual exploitation (74%), followed by labour exploitation 
(14%), and  other  types  of  exploitation  (11%).  In  2019-2020,  individuals  were  already  most 

10 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
frequently suspected in relation to sexual exploitation (65%), followed by labour exploitation 
(23%) and other types of exploitation (12%). 

Figure 14: Number of suspects by the aggregated form of exploitation 

Source: Eurostat 

2.    Individuals prosecuted for trafficking offences 

The total number of individuals prosecuted of THB crimes (both EU and non-EU citizenships) 
increased by 35% (6 539 in 2019-2020 and 8 445 in 2021-2022)7. EU citizens accounted for 
81% of all prosecuted individuals in 2022. 

Member States with the highest number of nationals among those prosecuted of THB crimes 
were France (2 127), Hungary (1 152), Romania (993) and Belgium (620) in 2021-2022. 

The most frequent non-EU nationalities among prosecuted were China (170), Nigeria (123), 
Morocco (117), and Colombia (68). 

7 The number of prosecuted was not available for Germany and Italy for the whole period, and for  Cyprus for 
2019 and 2020. 

11 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Figure 15: Number of prosecuted persons for human trafficking offences per EU27 and 
non-EU citizenship 

Source: Eurostat 

Where information on the sex was recorded, 75% of individuals prosecuted of THB crimes 
were male in 2021-2022 (6193). The Member States with the highest shares of women among 
those  prosecuted  in  2021-2022  were  Ireland  (67%)  and  Spain  (52%).  In  2022,  5%  of  the 
prosecuted persons were children. 

Figure 16: Prosecuted by sex 

Source: Eurostat (crim_thb_sex) 

12 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sexual  exploitation  was  still  the  most  common  reason  for  prosecution,  accounting  for  72% 
(70%  in  2019-2020)  of  all  recorded  prosecuted  persons,  and  reaching  100%  in  Malta,  the 
Netherlands and Slovenia. The second most common form of exploitation was forced labour, 
representing a 22% share. 

Figure 17: Prosecuted for human trafficking offences by aggregated form of exploitation 

        Source: Eurostat 

3.    Individuals convicted for trafficking offences 
The total number of individuals convicted of THB crimes (both EU and non-EU citizenships) 
increased by 40% between 2019-2020 (3 019) and 2021-2022 (4728)8. Within the reporting 
period,  in  2021  EU  citizens  accounted  for  72%  of  all  convicted  individuals  for  whom 
citizenship was reported, and 74% in 2022.  

Member States with the highest numbers of citizens among convicted individuals were France 
(1 254), Romania (626), Greece (307), and Germany (212) in 2021-2022. 

The most frequently recorded non-EU countries of citizenship among  convicted individuals 
were Nigeria (210), China (153), and Albania (76). 

8 The number of convicted was not available for Belgium for 2020 and 2022, and for Italy for 2019 and 2020. 

13 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Figure 18: Convicted persons for human trafficking offences per citizenship of EU27 and 
non-EU citizens 

Source: Eurostat 

In line with the preceding sections, the overwhelming majority (78%) of individuals convicted 
for human trafficking crimes in the EU in 2021-2022 were men. Member States with a high 
share of convicted women in 2021-2022 were Sweden (100%) and Ireland (80%). 

Figure 19: Convicted for human trafficking offences per sex 

Source: Eurostat (crim_thb_sex) 

14 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sexual  exploitation  was  the  most  frequent  form  of  exploitation  recorded  for  convicted 
individuals (69%), reaching 100% in Malta and the Netherlands, and 85% in Romania. The 
Member States with the lowest numbers of convictions for sexual exploitation were Lithuania 
(13%), Finland (17%), and Italy (20%)9. 

Figure  20:  Convicted  for  human  trafficking  offences  by  the  aggregated  form  of 
exploitation 

Source: Eurostat 

4.    Final decisions of prosecution 
In 2021-2022, 42% of total final decisions of the prosecutors in the EU brought charges for 
trafficking in human beings, 2% for another criminal offence and 38% of final decisions did 
not bring charges at all10. 

In three Member States, Latvia, Malta and Sweden the totality (100%) of final decisions bring 
charges for trafficking in human beings. The Member States with the smallest percentage of 
final decisions of prosecutors bringing charges for trafficking in human beings were Ireland 
(14%), Belgium (18%), and Romania (20%). 

The  Member  States  with  the  highest  percentage  of  final  decisions  not  charging  at  all  are 
Romania  (80%),  while  the  countries  with  the  smallest  percentage  of  final  decisions  not 
charging at all are Cyprus (6%) and France (8%). 

9 The breakdown of convicted by form of exploitation was not available for Bulgaria, Czechia, Hungary, Poland, 
Portugal and Sweden in 2021-2022. 
10 The number of final decisions of the prosecution service by outcome was not available for Germany, Spain, 
Italy, Hungary, Austria, Portugal and Finland in 2021-2022. 

15 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Figure 21: Final decision by the prosecution concerning persons prosecuted for human 
trafficking offences by the nature of the final decision 

Source: Eurostat 

5.   Court judgements 
In 2021-2022, 80% of court judgements in Member States led to convictions, while 12% led to 
acquittal11.  

The Member States with the highest percentage of acquittals in their total court judgements 
were  Slovenia  (100%),  Denmark  (83%),  and  Malta  (78%).  The  countries  with  the  smallest 
percentage of acquittals in their total Court judgements were Romania and Hungary (both 2%), 
Lithuania (3%) and Germany (6%). The totality (100%) of Court judgements led to convictions 
in three countries: Estonia, Ireland, and Sweden. 

Figure 22: Court judgements for human trafficking by the nature of the decision 

Source: Eurostat 

6.   Use of exploited services 
In the EU in 2022, 51 individuals were suspected of using services of victims of trafficking: 30 
in Sweden, 16 in Czechia, 2 in Hungary and Latvia. 8 persons were prosecuted and none was 
convicted.  Many countries do not report the data as the use of services is not criminalized or 
data is not available. 

11 The number of court judgements by outcome was not available for Belgium and Spain in 2021-2022. 

16